TORONTO—The structure at 355 King Street West, Toronto, began life as the Canadian Westinghouse building, and much later become the Indian Motorcycle Club. Now, Steve Gupta, president and CEO of the Eastons Group of Hotels. has ambitious plans for the historic property across from the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre.

Here’s what he and his daughter Reetu, VP sales and marketing and strategic development, described over breakfast recently.

They see the site as being a destination in itself—“a mini-Yorkville” or “a chic Yorkville that will speak more to King Street West.”

There will be two condominium buildings, one 48 and one 44 storeys, plus a 132-room boutique lifestyle hotel, “a brand of 5-star totally different from what anybody else is doing.” There will be a 5,000 square foot rooftop bar named RG Champagne and Cigar Lounge. There will be also be retail space, 4,500-5,000 square feet of meeting space, an indoor pool, a spa, and “a very, very high end restaurant.”

The first building on the site is a sales pavilion, which will open in September. Once they sell 70 per cent of the condos, construction will begin.

Condos will be 450 to 1100 square feet, with prices ranging from $350,000 to $1.2 million.

“We decided not to go with too many large suites,” said Reetu.“We will be keeping the facade of the Indian Motorcycle Club building, since it’s a heritage building,” she added.

The design will be a mixture of old and new, with the bottom facade of the historic building topped by two black glass towers with white accents, and two-storey penthouses every twelve floors.

As part of deal with the city, there will be a live theatre museum called the Theatre Museum of Canada in partner ship with theatre mogul David Mirvish.Gupta and his wife Rashmi have already forged a strong relationship with TIFF, with a donation last year that is recognized by naming the box office The Steve and Rashmi Gupta Box Office. In return, Eastons’ Marriott Residence Inn and the two Hilton Garden Inns in downtown Toronto are now known as “Premier TIFF Lightbox hotels”.

Big dreams? Gupta has a track record that says he will accomplish them. He currently owns 15 hotels with over 2,700 rooms, and prides himself on creating properties that exceed brand standards.

And there are a couple of other projects afoot—a condo development at Jarvis and Dundas Streets in Toronto, and a Marriott TownePlace Suites in Thunder Bay, ON.